Iron Fic: Charlie and Tonks See the Sights
by The Chairman
Summary: Contestants (3 this time) had 24 hours to write a fic of 1500 words using the secret ingredients"Charlie/Tonks" and "A tourist attraction in Muggle London".
1. Merlin's Cave

**'Merlin's Cave'**

* * *

**20th April 1988**

* * *

Nymphadora Tonks let out a commingled groan of apathy and boredom as she trailed along towards the rear of a group led by Professor Dolan – the latest in a long line of Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers to have held the post since she had started her magical education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry nearly five years earlier – as he guided them around the ruins of Tintagel Castle situated on the northern tip of the Cornish coast.

"Many muggles believe that this castle is in fact the birthplace of King Arthur," he was saying in a dull monotone that very nearly rivalled the narcolepsy-inducing drone favoured by their usual History of Magic teacher, Professor Binns. "Total nonsense of course," he added not bothering to keep his voice down as a group of muggle tourists hurried by. "Anyone who has studied the Magical History of Britain is aware that the character of Arthur was created by Merlin as a way of deflecting attention away from himself so he wouldn't be constantly harassed by muggles looking for magical solutions to their problems ... "

Quickly losing what little interested had been piqued at the mention of Merlin, Tonks easily tuned out Dolan's dry lecture and leant closer to her best friend, Charlie Weasley. "Had I known this trip was going to be so dull, I wouldn't have pestered mum so much to sign that bloody consent form," she whispered.

Charlie's freckled face split into a wide grin. "At least we're out of school," he whispered back, managing to suppress a chuckle at his best friend's obvious boredom.

Tonks pursed her lips and bobbed her head from side to side. _There was that._

At the behest of the board of governors who had recently decreed that it was their wish that the school should offer O.W.L. students the chance to 'experience the history of their world first hand,' as their letter home to the parents had read, Professor Dumbledore had grudgingly authorised the first field trip in nearly two centuries.

Rumour had it that all trips had been suspended indefinitely after some sort of an incident during an one such excursion to Edinburgh in 1824 which resulted in a terrible fire that left half the city in ruins.

Given that Professor Binns had barely noticed his own death, the decision had been taken that someone with a more watchful eye should accompany the students, the task eventually falling to Tarak Dolan, the current incumbent of the Defence Against the Dark Arts position and a former Magical Law Enforcement Officer.

"What do you reckon the chances are that Old Binns hasn't even noticed we're gone?" she replied, morphing her features into a fair representation of the aged ghost's tortoise-like appearance.

Now a laugh did escape Charlie's lips; a deep rumble of a laugh that she had always so adored. "Stop it," he choked out, but it was too late ...

Turning on his heel to locate the source of the commotion, Professor Dolan's closely set eyes narrowed as his gaze settled on the two students at the very tail of the group. "Perhaps you have something to add, Mr Weasley?" he enquired with an unpleasant grin. "Or maybe you, Miss Tonks?"

Involuntarily, the two friends glanced towards one another, each wearing matching expressions of guilt before they both had the good sense to appear contrite and allow their gazes to drop to their shoes. "No professor," they chorused.

"Very well then," snapped Dolan. "But anymore foolishness and I shall return you both to Hogwarts before either of you can say boggart."

Fully aware that Professor Dolan's threat was not an idle one, for several minutes Tonks and Charlie trudged on in silence, the former attempting to catch the later's eye several times in an effort to convey her regret that she had gotten him into trouble (again).

However, either he did not want to meet her eye at that moment, or else was made oblivious to her efforts by the strong wind blowing across the rocky peninsular from the sea frequently whipping his long hair into his face.

At length, the professor brought the group to a halt encircling the ruined foundations of what Tonks presumed must once have been a tower of some sort - not that she could hear her teacher's lecture on the subject to confirm her theory one way or the other. Truly exposed the headland as they now were, the wind had become so powerful that the professor's words were carried away and out to sea long before they reached her ears.

It was at that moment that Charlie's head snapped up: he had obviously heard something she hadn't.

"Sorry sir,' he said, his blue eyes dancing with delight in a manner that made Nymphadora's stomach perform a pathetic sort of half flip. "Did you say dragons?"

"Interested in what I have to say now, are we?" came Dolan's cool response and Tonks feared that he was about to make an example out of her best friend in retaliation for their earlier behaviour.

It was a fear that was proven mercifully unfounded.

"Yes, Mr Weasley," he continued smoothly, slicing his wand through the air to silence the howl of the wind. "You did indeed hear me correctly. This tower was destroyed by dragons.

"These stones," he waved an arm towards the pile of time-worn rubble, "are all that remain of a great tower that Vortigern, one of the earliest muggle Kings of Britain, was trying to erect some fifteen hundred years ago.

"You see, Vortigern had tried many times, but the before the tower could be completed, the ground would quake and the tower would collapse. His wise men told him that the only solution was to sprinkle the foundation with the blood of a child born without a father; only then would the ground remain still enough for the tower to be completed.

"Merlin, rumoured to be such a child, was therefore brought before him," Dolan continued, apparently quite enjoying the undivided attention he now received in response to his tale. "Now, why a wizard of Merlin's prowess did not merely apparate away from his captors, history does not record, however, we do know that Merlin instead chose to reveal the true cause of the tower's collapse to them: below the castle lay a cavern which housed two dragons, their violent battles continually rocking the land and thus destroying the tower before it could ever be completed - the locals still call it Merlin's cave to this day."

"And do you think there are still any dragons here now, sir?" asked Charlie, a familiar look of longing in his eyes: he had been fascinated with dragons for as long as Tonks had known him.

"Don't be foolish, boy," snapped Dolan, his features quite suddenly morphing back into the look of disdain he usually reserved for students. "Even a creature as long-lived as a dragon would have turned to dust centuries ago. Besides, the Ministry has classified all dragons as extremely dangerous – there isn't a beast alive today that the Ministry doesn't know the exact location of at all times."

Whilst clearly a knowledgable man, Dolan's obvious dislike of children made him ill-suited to a position instructing them, and as such he had quickly become one of most hated figures at the school – perhaps only beaten into second place by the vindictive head of Slytherin House, Professor Snape.

Hardly a night went by in which Tonks did not wish that the curse that was rumoured to surround the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts would strike again – it was often the only thought that got her through his lesson – and it was that thought again that allowed her to stay in control of her temper as Dolan's stinging remark hit home and washed the enthusiasm that had been etched onto her best friend's features away in an instant: she had learnt through bitter experience that allowing her metamorphic abilities to manifest themselves in Professor Dolan's class, even unintentionally, only served to antagonise the man.

"Hey," she whispered under her breath once they had resumed walking towards the next item of interest on their tour. "Do you fancy sneaking back in here tonight? See if we can't find those dragon caves … "

Charlie's face lit up. "Do you mean it?" came his eager reply.

In truth, Tonks didn't much fancy running into a dragon in the dead of night – in fact, as much as she hated Dolan, she believed that he _was_ right about at least one thing: there was no way any being made of flesh and bone, no matter how powerful, could have survived for more than a millennia.

Nevertheless, knowing that only the prospect of seeing a dragon in the flesh would be enough to persuade the occasionally uptight Charlie Weasley to deliberately break the rules, Tonks offered her best friend a single shy nod by way of response. The opportunity to spend some time alone with the boy who had befriended her in their very first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson nearly five years ago would offer her the perfect moment to admit something that she had only become aware of in the last few months; an opportunity to find out if he felt the same way about her as she now realised she felt about him.

* * *

The sun had long since set over the rocky bay when Charlie and Tonks emerged from the rooms the school had procured for them at the town's only hotel. Both wore their school robes over their muggle clothing, and, in an effort to further disappear into the night, Tonks had even gone so far as to alter her hair colour to an inky black, indistinguishable from the dark landscape which surrounded them.

Fortune smiled on them: no one saw them as they hurried along the headland and the clouds (which until that moment had been streaking their way across the full moon and camouflaging their flight) parted at the opportune moment and lit their way down the rough steps, hewn directly into the rock.

Hand stretched out behind him, Charlie led Tonks down the winding stone staircase in silence, their descent abruptly halted when the pathway simply disappeared several steps shy of the beach.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed as Tonks, unsighted in the dark, bumped into his back and set him swaying unsteadily on the final step which still stood a good ten feet off the ground. Only a combination of years of quidditch honed reflexes, coupled with Tonks making an instinctive grab for his waist, saving him from toppling over the edge.

"Where are the steps?" squeaked Tonks feeling less sure about her cunning plan by the second.

"Washed away, I guess," offered Charlie with a laconic shrug. "I'm going to have to jump," he announced a moment later, and before Tonks could even so much as part her lips to protest he launched himself into the air and landed with a wet squelch on the waterlogged beach below.

"Now you," he shouted as he righted himself and held his arms at the ready to arrest her momentum.

Having never had much of a head for heights, her mouth suddenly felt very dry as she peered over the sheer edge of the cliff. "I'm not sure this is a good - "

Whatever else she intended to say was swallowed up by her yelp of fright as she lost her footing on the slimy rock and tumbled over the edge.

Landing on Charlie with far more force than she had intended, the impact of her fall sent them them both sprawling to the ground where they landed in a heap, his face mere inches from hers.

She blinked stupidly as she assimilated the compromising nature of their positions, her cheeks immediately burning crimson as she recognised exactly where her hips had landed. "I – I – I'm so sorry, Charlie," she stammered, pushing herself to her feet and making a show of dusting the sand from her clothes just so that she would have something to do with her hands that she had suddenly become very conscious of: _How have I never noticed how stupid my arms look just hanging at my sides? _

"Don't mention it," winced Charlie as he too righted himself. "What are friends for?"

Charlie's words trailed away, and in a manner that Tonks could never recall experiencing around her best friend, time seemed to stretch awkwardly.

"Is - is that it, do you think?" she said at length, clearing her throat in a way she feared was obviously faked. _What's wrong with me?!_

"Must be," replied Charlie, his gaze shifting around in a very uncharacteristic manner. "Shall we?" he added gesturing towards the caverns vaguely circular entrance.

Stealthily, the two friends moved along the beach, their trainers making barely a sound on the compacted sand. Simultaneously, they lit their wand having moved beneath the canopy of rock and into the pitch blackness of the cave.

"I guess Dolan was right," said Tonks, her voice sounding high pitched and nervous to her own ears. "Perhaps we should be going - "

But Charlie obviously wasn't listening to her. "Hey! What's this?" he wondered aloud, moving his wand light to and fro over a particular patch of sand.

"It's just a water channel," suggested Tonks, directing her own wand light towards the groove worn into the caverns soft floor.

"No, look," declared Charlie, his voice carrying with it an unmistakable hint of excitement. "The groove goes right up against this wall and then stops."

Tonks felt her eyebrows reach for the ceiling of rock high overhead. "There's nothing unusual about an underground stream."

"But that's just it," continued Charlie emphatically, "there's no evidence of water action like there was at the bottom of the steps. This wasn't caused by any tidal stream. This is the mark left by a dragon's tail dragging along the ground – I know, I've seen pictures," he added.

"So what? The dragon just disappeared into a solid wall?" Her attempt at nonchalance sounded forced even to her own ears: she was beginning to worry that there really was something that still called Merlin's Cave home.

"Maybe it's not a wall at all," postulated Charlie, oblivious to Tonks' discomfort. "It could be an illusion left behind by Merlin himself, or a maybe a distraction charm of some sort, or a - "

Charlie's excited ramble was cut off by a horrific sound that started out low, like the howl of the wind that sill rushed past the mouth of the cave and quickly rose to a deafening roar.

Dual beams of light swung in the direction of the terrifying noise as Tonks and Charlie swung their wands towards the source, their luminescent beams falling on the unmistakable form of an ancient, but nevertheless deadly dragon. The passage of time had turned many of its green scales slate grey and its eyes were a milky white, but blind though it was, the scent of two tasty morsels who had so willingly stumbled into its lair had drawn it closer to the surface than it had been in a great many years and it sniffed at the air hungrily.

Despite herself a squeak of fear slipped past Tonks' lips. "Charlie?" she hissed, wishing she had paid more attention during Care of Magical Creatures. "What should we do?"

Having studied the species extensively, Charlie had no such doubts about their next course of action. "RUN!" he bellowed and grabbed her by the hand just it time to pull her out of the way as the dragon belched a surprisingly well aimed fireball in their general direction.

Even without looking behind, Tonks could sense that the dragon was in pursuit; the enormous creature's thunderous footfalls shook the cave so violently that she had no trouble believing Dolan's story about the tower from earlier that day.

"GET DOWN!" yelled Charlie and he threw them both to the ground behind a large boulder which instantly flared white hot, flames licking around its edges, as the dragon continued to use its remaining senses to excellent effect.

Panting hard, Tonks assessed their options and found them to be worryingly few. They couldn't fight - she knew enough of dragons to be certain that even if they were both fully qualified they didn't stand a chance. They couldn't stay where they were - even blinded by cataracts the winged monster was still a formidable hunter. Their only option was to make a dash for the caves only opening, fifty meters directly ahead of them: almost certainly a suicide run given how quickly the dragon had proven it could locate them utilising only it's remaining senses.

This was it; they were going to die down here, and she was never going to get to tell him how she felt.

_Unless_ ...

Words were a luxury she didn't have time for; summoning every ounce of her courage, Tonks turned to face Charlie, his face red from exertion, and quickly closed the distance between them. She kept her eyes open so that she could have her answer one way or the other, her heart sinking like a stone as Charlie's eyes widened in shock._ He doesn't feel the same_. But almost before that nascent thought could fully coalesce within her mind, her heart reversed course and settled somewhere near her throat as Charlie's eyes slid shut and he reciprocated in kind.

Their moment was ruined as the dragon roared with frustration at being unable to locate its quarry.

Not wishing to give away their precise location by vocalising her desire to make a run for it, Tonks made sure Charlie followed her eye line towards the cave's jagged opening, understanding blossoming in his pale blue eyes.

She held up the fingers of one hand to signify a countdown and coiled the muscles of her legs ready to run harder than at any point in her life as she lowered each one in turn:

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

"STUPEFY!"

A new voice rang out within the confines of the cave and both of the trapped teenager's gazes snapped up to find the voice of their would-be saviour; a voice that managed to drown out the roar of the dragon as it recoiled under the onslaught of his powerful stunner.

Backlit against the caves entrance stood the imposing and unmistakable figure of Albus Dumbledore, his long beard whipping about his shoulders in the strong wind.

"Both of you would be wise to get behind me." His voice was calm, conversational even, but his eyes blazed with commingled fury and concern. "Quickly please," he added when neither made to move.

Not needing to be told twice, Tonks and Charlie sprinted towards safety, the headmaster laying down cover fire over their heads to keep the incensed dragon, which reared up onto its hind legs, at bay.

"How did you - " Tonks started to ask, but the headmaster cut across her.

"As fascinating as I'm sure you would find my answer, Miss Tonks, I fear there is little time for explanation. Please, take this," he added, pulling out a dog's chew toy from within the folds of his robes whereupon he extended it so that both Charlie and Tonks could grasp one end each as he intoned a single word: "Portus."

"Suffice it to say," he continued apparently choosing to ignore his own counsel, "I believe we once again find ourselves requiring a new Defence Against the Darks Arts teacher. Mr Dolan has proven himself sadly lacking in his duty to account for the whereabouts of the students in his care."

With that, he tapped the dog toy once more and Tonks immediately felt a familiar jerk behind her navel and when she was released she found herself standing before an door who's threshold she had crossed on more occasions than she cared to remember - _Professor Sprout's._

* * *

Less than a minute later, Dumbledore arrived looking none the worse for wear. He did at least inform them that the dragon had been incapacitated and would be transferred to a sanctuary before he ushered them towards their separate heads of house to receive their punishments.

An hour later, an exasperated Pomona Sprout had dismissed Nymphadora from her sanctum and Tonks had immediately made her way to the deputy headmistress's office where she now waited for her best friend – _boyfriend?_ – to emerge.

Finally, with her eyes feeling like they were being weighed down by tiny parcels of lead and the sky beyond the window she sat opposite just beginning to bruise towards morning, Tonks heard the handle to Professor McGonagall's office twist, and she looked up just in time to see a shame-faced Charlie Weasley emerge into the deserted corridor.

"Well?" prompted Tonks, the muscles of her back protesting vociferously as she pushed to her feet after a long period of inactivity.

"Detention for a month," he said sliding his hand into hers as they picked a direction at random and began to walk. "I'm suspended from the last quidditch game of the season, and McGonagall says she'll be writing to my parents first thing in the morning."

"So not too bad then?" grinned Tonks and she gave him playful shove to his ribs as she thought of her own seamlessly never ending list of punishments for he most recent indiscretion. However, and to her eternal surprise, Charlie's mouth did not quirk into a matching grin, his features instead taking on a more thoughtful countenance.

"Yeah," he said after a beat his gaze slipping towards their conjoined hands. "Not too bad at all."

Now he did smile and it was smile that caused Nymphadora's hair to flush red from its roots to its very tips.

* * *

**_Fin_**


	2. Of Roman Baths

**Of Roman Baths and Ice Creams, Drunken New Years and New Beginnings**

Ten-year-old Teddy Lupin had a temper, and it was in full flight right now.

"A bath?" he demanded belligerently. "I _had_ a bath on Saturday. _And_ a shower yesterday. I'm clean!"

His mother sighed. A day out with the children had seemed such a good idea when Charlie suggested it, but now she wasn't so sure. If the whole day was going to be like this… She held onto her own temper with difficulty.

"I said Bath, Ted, not _a_ bath," she said quietly, in a tone that her son knew he must not interrupt or argue with. "Bath. The place. The town called Bath. In Somerset."

Teddy hated to be wrong. He muttered something about, "Well, you could have said so," and sloped off to his room to dress and pretend to comb his hair.

Tonks sighed. It looked like being a long day.

In a cottage by the sea not so very far from Bath, another mother was arguing with her child.

"For the last time, Victoire," Fleur Weasley said firmly. "Dominique is going to Bath with Uncle Charlie and Tonks because she was invited and you were not. I have heard more than enough of you whining about it."

"But it's not fair," Victoire whined. "I'm older than Dominique. I should go. It's not fair!"

Dominique smirked and helped herself to more cornflakes.

"You only care because you're in love with Teddy," she said.

Victoire made an inarticulate sound of fury and reached across the table, pulling hard on her sister's long red plait and sending both their cereal bowls flying. Fleur threw up her hands in horror, and the children's father decided it was time he intervened. He emerged from behind the day's copy of the _Prophet_, and fixed his eldest daughter with a steely glare.

"Victoire, Dominique is going to Bath with Uncle Charlie and Aunt Tonks because they asked her to. They have a perfect right to ask whoever they like to go out with them. Besides, Dominique and Addison are the same age."

"Oh, _Addison_!" Victoire intoned dramatically, rolling her eyes.

Her father regarded her unsympathetically. "I'm sure that that attitude to your cousin is one reason you weren't invited to go," he said sternly. "Now clear up the mess on the table, and let's hear no more about this." He turned to his younger daughter. "Are you ready to go, Dom? I need to drop you off at the Leaky to meet the others in ten minutes."

Tonks regarded the three children in front of her sternly.

"Remember," she told them, "we are going on a Muggle train, and going to visit Muggle places. No magic. Teddy, no changing your hair or your nose every two minutes. No talking loudly about magic. No commenting loudly on things that are perfectly normal for Muggles."

"Like what?" asked Addison curiously. "Eckeltricity and so on?"

"Electricity!" Tonks snapped. "Yes, exactly. If you want to know about something, ask quietly. Is that clear?"

The three children nodded solemnly, and Tonks turned to Charlie, who was smiling.

"Is that clear, Charlie?" she asked sternly and he stopped smiling and nodded meekly.

"Yes, ma'am," he said.

The three children were sitting together on the train, looking excitedly at the magazines which Tonks had bought them at the station. Teddy was reading "_The Beano_", whilst the two girls had their heads together over something about ponies. Except that the ponies in question seemed to be pink and purple and sparkly. Very un-Muggle-like, Charlie thought confusedly. Sitting together like that, the girls' likeness was emphasised: both red-haired like their fathers, both freckled, both with wide blue eyes . Although she was six months younger than her cousin, Addison was slightly taller, but the two of them could easily have passed for twins. Since Teddy had settled on red hair for himself today, the five of them might easily be a proper family enjoying a day out in the school holidays.

If only it was that simple, Charlie thought to himself, watching his daughter with something halfway between awe and surprise. He always felt like this when he met her again after a few weeks or months. She was undoubtedly his; he recognised so much of himself in her. Yet she was foreign to him in more ways than her New York accent and her un-English name. She always seemed like a stranger for a few days until he got used to her again.

He had met her mother on New Year's Eve in Times Square. He had accompanied George to America, with the vague elder brotherly thought that someone ought to take care of him. In fact, George had proved himself much more able to take care of himself than Charlie. He had merely got drunk. Charlie found himself waking up on the first day of 2002 in a strange apartment with a strange – but very beautiful – woman beside him, who reminded him that her name was Ava. They parted on good terms, Charlie tracked down George in a wizarding bar near Central Park, the two of them Portkeyed home, and Charlie thought that was the end of it.

Until an owl arrived a couple of months later from Ava informing Charlie that she was pregnant and that the baby was his. Any man brought up by Molly Weasley knew his duty in such a case. Charlie resigned his job in Romania and Portkeyed to New York within the week. Ava was happy to see him, and Charlie moved into her apartment in the East Village. Ava worked in the American branch of Gringotts, and between them she and Bill pulled enough strings to secure Charlie a desk job there too. He hated it, but he stuck at it for the sake of the baby, and for Ava, of whom he was becoming increasingly fond. But his feelings for her never got beyond a warm fondness and liking, and it soon became apparent that she felt the same about him. They called it a day when Addison was six months old, and Charlie returned to Romania with a slightly guilty feeling of relief.

He remained good friends with Ava, visiting her and Addison several times a year. Addison visited her English family every summer, and sometimes at Christmas or Easter too. It was a perfect arrangement for everyone.

Almost perfect, Charlie thought morosely, as he watched his daughter laughing and talking with the other children. Tonks had never really forgiven him for the drunken indiscretion that had taken him away from her just at the time when she was beginning to recover from the loss of her husband and the two of them were trying to rebuild a relationship that had ended ten years earlier when they left school. Since he had returned from America for good, he and Tonks had had a strange on-off relationship, sometimes living together for weeks at a time, sometimes just dating, and at other times, usually precipitated by a row about Ava and Addison, not even speaking for weeks. Right now, in the June of 2008, they were in a "together" phase. They had been more or less a couple since Christmas, but only acknowledging it to Charlie's family and Tonks' mother since Easter. They were tired of their families' well-meant – and not so well meant – comments by now, so were inclined to be secretive about the state (or non-state) of their relationship. Still, six months was pretty good going, and – ever the optimist – Charlie had his own plans for today.

The train pulled into Bath Spa station and Tonks herded the children and Charlie ahead of her off the train. Dominique, less used to Muggle transport than Addison or Teddy, exclaimed at the way the ticket barrier swallowed her ticket as they exited the station, but she was only six, and a Muggle child might well have reacted the same way, so Tonks let her get away with it.

"We'll go to the Pump Room first," she said with decision. "You can't come to Bath and not drink the water."

"The water?" Teddy asked, looking at his mother as if she had gone mad. "They have water everywhere, Mum, it's not a big deal."

Charlie laughed, but Tonks scowled at him, and regaled them with a potted history of the famous hot springs of Bath, as they made their way over the road (Charlie reflecting how much his father would enjoy pressing a button and waiting for the green man to appear to tell you it was safe to cross) and along Stall Street to the Abbey Churchyard and the Pump Room.

Bath was as busy as it usually is on a hot summer day, with groups of American and Japanese tourists clogging up the pathways, more often than not in pursuit of a harassed-looking guide holding up a stars and stripes flag, a coloured umbrella or, in one case, what looked like a kamikaze sword. Charlie sincerely hoped it was a fake. A group of Americans were exiting the Pump Room as they approached, seemingly dressed in uniform – all wore jeans, red baseball caps, and red and blue polo shirts sporting the name of a travel company in large red letters.

"Why do they do that?" Teddy asked in puzzlement. "Why do they want to look the same as each other?"

His mother shrugged. It seemed a good enough question to her, even for a Muggle to ask. Indeed a little girl behind them had just asked her mother the same question it seemed.

The woman laughed. "They can't help it dear, they're Americans," she said. "Americans are strange."

Addison's red hair bristled with fury, and she opened her mouth to say something, but Charlie caught hold of her arm and steered her through the Pump Room door before she could.

"Come and taste this famous water," he said hastily, leading her towards the fountain in the corner, and frowning over the handful of Muggle change he had pulled out of his pocket. He managed to locate a fifty pence coin, suppressing the comment he wanted to make at the shape of it, and handed it over to the uniformed man standing by the fountain, who solemnly poured a glass of the famous water and handed it over. It looked cloudy and distinctly unappetising. Addison wrinkled her nose at the sight of it.

"You're going to drink that?" she asked incredulously. "I bet you can't, Dad!"

Charlie raised his eyebrows. "Is that a challenge, young lady?" he asked, and downed the water in one go, only choking slightly as he finished it. Addison clapped, and even the uniformed attendant looked moderately impressed.

"Not many people manage that, sir," he said, as Tonks paid him for a second glass of the water and he passed it over to her. Neither Tonks nor the children managed more than a sip of it. Dominique summed up their feelings quite well.

"If that's supposed to make you better, I think I'd rather be ill!" she proclaimed loudly.

From the Pump Room, they went on to the Roman baths themselves, Tonks insisting that they each take one of the audio guides that the girl on the desk was handing out. Of course, this was a mistake. The children and Charlie were entranced by how the little box would speak to you, and how you could change what it said by entering different numbers. They barely looked at any of the exhibits in the first few rooms of the museum, so busy were they with their new toys.

Tonks sighed. "I should have just bought a guidebook," she muttered to herself, quickly and efficiently confiscating everyone's audio guide as they passed the sacred spring and entered the temple grounds. She forestalled their protests with a rapid silencing spell, the room being crowded enough for it to pass unnoticed by the surrounding Muggles.

When he could speak again, Charlie grinned and took her hand.

"Count yourself lucky we didn't bring my dad," he said.

Once they had got over their disappointment at losing the audio guides, the children and Charlie found themselves fascinated by the displays, and the reminder of a time when wizards and priests had perhaps been one and the same, and when Muggles had believed in magic as readily as they did themselves. Both Teddy and Addison expressed a desire to have a swim in the large bath itself, although Dominique turned up a fastidious nose at the green and steaming water therein.

As they emerged into the bright English afternoon, all of the children became aware that they were hungry.

"There was a McDonald's back there," Teddy said hopefully, his Uncle Harry having instilled a liking for cardboard burgers and cold and stick-like chips in him from an early age.

Both Dominique and Addison protested loudly at this, and Tonks agreed with them hastily, leading the way back to the Abbey Churchyard where she bought everyone a Cornish pasty and a cup of tea from the shop on the corner without any consultation at all. Addison muttered something about "stodgy British food," but even she ate her pasty eagerly enough.

"Now," said Tonks decidedly, as she swallowed the last of her tea and wiped her fingers on a paper napkin. "Now, for Queen Square and the Circus! Following in the footsteps of Jane Austen."

"Who?" asked Charlie, while the children focussed on what they considered the more interesting part of her speech. All of them had heard of Muggle circuses – were they really going to be lucky enough to go to one?

"Not that kind of circus," Tonks said patiently, once she realised what had got them so excited. "It's just a circle of houses."

The children groaned, and it was a far from happy group that trailed along in her wake in search of the haunts of a nineteenth century author none of them had heard of. Even Charlie's low-voiced commentary on the clothing and actions of the Muggles they passed did not really cheer them up, although his description of an elderly Muggle lady with pale blue hair as You Know Who's long lost sister made Tonks snort with laughter and bestow a kiss on his cheek as the unheeding woman walked past.

Dominique revolved gracefully around and surveyed The Circus critically. She shrugged.

"Just some houses," she said. "What are we doing now?"

Tonks looked slightly crestfallen, and Charlie decided that it was time that he took charge.

"Ice cream," he said firmly. "Where do you get ice cream in this town?"

Tonks shrugged and looked hopelessly round. The hallowed ground of The Circus did not seem the place to buy ice creams. Charlie smiled and put an arm around her shoulders.

"Are we wizards, or what?" he asked.

"Witches," his daughter and his niece said simultaneously, and he inclined his head in acknowledgement.

"Wizards _and_ witches," he conceded. "Think hard about ice cream, follow me, and the ice cream will find us."

The children looked unconvinced and Tonks giggled faintly, but she took his hand as he led the way out of The Circus and back towards the town centre, the children following behind. They had walked barely fifty yards when they heard a bicycle bell behind them, and a young man wearing a boater hat and a striped green and white apron pedalled past on a contraption that was half bicycle and half ice cream stall, the brightly coloured sign on the side proclaiming _"The Real Italian Ice Cream Company" _in curly letters. Charlie flagged him down, and the young man, who seemed both hot and tired, was happy enough to stop pedalling and wait while the children debated the relative merits of vanilla and chocolate, mint and strawberry. In the end, they were all satisfied, and licking large double cones of what Dominique proclaimed to be "the best ice cream ever!" They found a bench under a tree, and all squashed together on it, Addison curled on her father's lap with Dominique between him and Tonks and Teddy on his mother's other side as they ate in companionable silence.

When they were all finished, and Tonks had cleaned sticky fingers and faces with an unobtrusive spell, Charlie pushed Addison gently off his lap and slipped onto the ground in front of Tonks, pulling a slightly battered box out of his pocket and smiling up at her.

Teddy realised what was coming before his mother did, and it was to the accompaniment of his retching sounds that Charlie proposed. The little girls squealed and clapped their hands, dancing around the bench in excitement, quietening and looking worried as Tonks said nothing. Even Teddy fell silent as they all waited for Tonks' reply. After what seemed like an age to poor Charlie, she smiled and bent forwards, kissing him on the lips.

"Of course I'll marry you, Charlie," she said, and the children cheered as he slipped the ruby ring that had been his grandmother's onto her finger."

Charlie smiled happily as he picked up his tired daughter and took his fiancée's hand for the walk back to the station. All in all, he thought he rather liked Bath.


	3. Extra Credit

**For Extra Credit**

When Charlie signed up for a Muggle Studies tour for extra credit, he did it because Tonks asked him to. He didn't feel he needed Muggle Studies – not with his Dad's interest in Muggles meaning they were constantly learning things about them all the time! And certainly didn't need it to work with dragons. But Tonks had asked – pleaded even. She needed the extra credit to make her CV stand out for her application to be an Auror.

So here he was, traipsing around the Tower of London with a load of Muggle tourists and a Yeoman Warder (whose outfit was even stranger than anything worn by Cornelius Fudge) as their tour guide. They had seen the crown jewels and heard of its imperial history from around the world, seen a royal beasts slideshow (which interested Charlie far more than it interested Tonks). But the really funny thing was that the Muggles couldn't see that they were surrounded by ghosts! The ancient building just _teemed_ with ghosts and yet these tourists strolled along as their guide (dressed in a dress and a truly appalling hat) talked a whole lot of rot about ghosts he couldn't see.

As they had walked around the White Tower, the guide had intoned very seriously about the Grey Lady who had been imprisoned and died of a broken heart.

"Broken neck thanks to the prison guard, more like," the Grey Lady muttered to Tonks, and glided away. Tonks snorted, and the tour guide huffed with annoyance at the sound and sent Tonks (and more particularly, her vivid pink hair) his most sour look. Tonks rolled her eyes at him.

"Don't these Muggles even feel the ghosts around them," she whispered to Charlie.

"Perhaps." He shrugged. "They talk of feeling a chill or someone walking over their graves."

The tour guide raised his hand for the group to follow and led them past the Lady in White and Thomas a Becket and even Sir Walter Raleigh. Charlie looked wistfully back. He'd so enjoyed talking to the ghosts at Hogwarts; he'd love to chat to some of these now!

"And this," announced the guide, pinning them both with his most penetrative glare to stop them talking, "is Henry VIII's armour!" The Muggle tourists seemed to be most impressed but Tonks rolled her eyes in boredom, thinking only that its occupant had been extremely large. "It was rumoured to be haunted when it was housed in the Gallery."

"We could cast _Piertotum Locomotor_ – that'd give them a fright!" said Tonks with a crooked smile.

"Wait, listen," Charlie whispered urgently.

"Night warders spoke of a crushing sensation whenever they were near it," the guide continued.

Charlie's ears pricked up and he turned to Tonks.

"Did you hear that? I think I know what that is! Talk about extra credit if we could catch it."

Now Charlie was talking her language! Extra credit through dire boredom was just too dull – but a mystery and a chase!

"What are you thinking?" she whispered back, her interest suddenly piqued.

"A crushing sensation! It can only be one thing although I'm surprised it's here. They normally can only be found in the tropics." He pulled Tonks back to the wall and cast a Disillusionment Charm on her and then on himself. Grabbing his tourist map in one hand and Tonks's hand in the other, they slipped away from their group to find their way to the Gallery.

Within minutes they had found the Gallery and Charlie followed the notes to where the armour used to be housed – in amongst many old liveried cloaks.

"I see it!" he whispered hoarsely to Tonks.

"What?" she said, none the wiser.

"The Lethifold!"

Tonks's eyes widened comically.

"Do you see – it's hiding in amongst those cloaks, but it's very thick."

"Yes, I see it!" Tonks gasped, leaning forward. "What happens now?" Tonks hadn't taken Care of Magical Creatures, but she knew from the Dark Creatures module of Defence that this creature could smother them and feast on them.

"A Patronus! If we each cast at the Lethifold, we can capture it. But we need something to capture it in."

"This!" Tonks pulled on her satchel. "Mum put an undetectable extension charm on it so I could carry my books with me because I kept forgetting them. Here!"

Tonks laid it out on the floor and propped it open like a gaping mouth and then they both stood to either side of the Lethifold.

Charlie nodded and they both cast: _"Expecto Patronum!"_

A dragon and a badger sprang from their wands and converged on the hiding Lethifold. It slid from its place amongst the cloaks, dropping down and it floated along the floor as the dragon and badger harried at its edges until it was shepherded towards the satchel. It insinuated itself inside, doubtless thinking (if Lethifolds did think, and Charlie wasn't sure they did) it was a good lair to lie in wait for an unsuspecting meal.

With a flourish of her wand, Tonks closed and sealed the satchel, giggling excitedly as Charlie added his own charms to the bag for safety's sake.

"Bloody brilliant!" laughed Charlie. "I can't wait to show Kettleburn what we've caught! Never thought I'd see one here. It's been here for centuries!"

"Or its descendants," said Tonks. "I can't believe the Ministry never disposed of it before. I mean, they're lethal! And no Muggle can defend themselves against one. They must have known ..." Tonks gazed at her satchel thoughtfully.

"That'll be your Auror instincts, Tonksie! Wanting to investigate." He nudged her cheerfully. "C'mon. Let's get out of here. I don't think I can listen to any more of that tour guide."

"Me neither," said Tonks, and she swung the satchel over her shoulder and they turned to the door – to see another Yeoman Warder staring at them.

"What's all this then? What have you put in that satchel? Come on. Open it," the Warder said.

Tonks and Charlie exchanged the look they so often did at school. The trouble was, any magic would contravene the Statute of Secrecy – and then where would either of them be with their chosen careers?

"Damn it!" swore Tonks, quietly as she swung the satchel off her shoulder. "You win."

The Warder nodded smugly and held out his hand for the satchel, not noticing Charlie flick his wand to the side, pointing at a rack of hefty livery which crashed down on the Warder.

"Quick!" hissed Charlie, as he jumped over the man struggling with the weight and tangle of the clothes as Tonks ran around him and then tripped heavily. She was caught by Charlie's strong arms in a practised movement, borne of years of running away from the scenes of crime together. Charlie set Tonks straight and they pelted through the corridor, acknowledging several ghosts along the way.

Once they were out of the Gallery, they slowed their pace to a stroll and tried to look nonchalant, as they looked at their map to find the quickest way out. Suddenly, they heard stomping and they realised it was the Warder who had got himself free and was following them.

As he turned the corner, he muttered, "Which way? Which way?"

"May I help you, my good man?"

The Warder stood straighter, as a woman in a Historic Royal Palaces liveried jacket appeared at one of the doors off the corridor.

"Two teenagers. Left the main group. Up to no good. Boy. Carrot top. Girl with pink spiked hair. Have you seen 'em?"

"Pink spiked hair? How disgusting!" the middle-aged woman lisped through her buck teeth and the Warder tried not to stare at the warts on the end of her hooked nose.

"Yeah. Disgusting. Right." The Warder looked quickly to his right, as if he'd spotted something in his peripheral vision but then frowned and walked quickly on, still searching for his miscreants.

The woman watched the man hurry off and then she muttered to a smudge of shadow to the side, "Not a patch on Filch, is he?"

The odd shadow solidified into Charlie, who grinned hugely.

"Have to say, Tonksie: that's one hell of a disguise."

Tonks laughed and draped her arm over his shoulder.

"Give us a kiss then," she said with a dramatic pucker of her thin, wizened lips.

"Not bloody likely. You look like Snape's mother."

"Ha!" Tonks screwed up her face and her features settled back to her own and the straggly black hair receded to short pink spikes and the liveried jacket reverted to a leather jacket once more.

They turned quickly as they heard footsteps approaching once more but this time, as they made to run, a familiar voice stopped them in their tracks.

"Miss Tonks and Mr. Weasley. I see you identified the Lethifold and indeed captured it. A remarkable feat, if I may so."

They slowly turned on their heels to see Professor Dumbledore standing behind them.

"However, I am afraid to say that this Lethifold is resident in the Gallery of the White Tower with the permission of the Wizengamot as it guards an ancient treasure and so, I must return it."

Charlie and Tonks exchanged baffled looks, and Tonks couldn't believe her ears.

"But sir!" she exclaimed. "It could kill any one of these Muggles. They can't defend themselves against it."

Dumbledore smiled, his blue eyes twinkling. "You are right to be concerned, Miss Tonks, and it does you credit. But the Gallery has the strongest Muggle repelling charms, I assure you."

"But that Warder could get in -'

"That Warder, Octavius Peabody, is a wizard and Keeper of the Cloak here at the Tower. He summoned me when you escaped with the Lethifold."

"Keeper of the Cloak? You mean of the Lethifold?" queried Tonks.

"Indeed I do," smiled Dumbledore, clearly pleased with her logical deductions.

Tonks's shoulders slumped and Charlie shrugged, and she passed Dumbledore her satchel.

"Thank you both. I will return your satchel through Professor Sprout, if I may. Now, I suggest you catch up with your group so your absence isn't missed. This is for extra credit, after all. You will find them, I believe, in the Bloody Tower."

"They're all bloody towers," muttered Tonks. Charlie laughed and put his arm around her as they walked away from Dumbledore.

"So how come you didn't offer me that kiss again?" asked Charlie.

"Hmmm, bit sidetracked by the appearance of our Headmaster," she said, her own pretty smile forming just as Charlie crooked his finger under her chin gently. "I think you deserve the extra credit," she smiled.


End file.
